Way back in 2003 when Jo turned one, we knew it was our parental duty to take some “official” photos of him.
Rather than take him to Olan Mills and have them stick him in a wagon or a basket of fruit, we decided that Uno cards would be the way to go.
(We are so clever like that.)

Anyway, a Maldonado tradition was born and every kid since then has had Uno photos.

A few weeks ago it was Eli’s turn, so it is with great pleasure I give you Eli’s Uno Session.

Everyone’s age.

And, a quick look down memory lane at the others.

Well ladies, it’s that time of year again.  And, just like last year, I’m here to help you out through what could be a rough couple of weeks in your relationship.  It’s March Madness.  The next few weeks will be filled with tons of college basketball, lots of ESPN, and very little alone time. :)  So, rather than fight it, why not embrace it.  That’s right, fill out your own bracket.  It’s OK if you “don’t know” anything about basketball.  Just pick your favorite teams, schools, states, or colors.  Whatever you want to do.  The best part is your fiance will totally love you more for trying.  (Just don’t beat him or he might like you less.)

Here is where you can go to download your own bracket.

I have listed a few ideas/rules for you to try out.

1.  Only pick one round at a time.  That way you get a fresh start and are always still “in” the game.

2.  Set up the prizes ahead of time.
You can do a general 1st and 2nd place prize or be more specific and say if you win you get this and if he wins he get that.

3.  If you see him turning into a competitive “guy” then just let him win and know in the back of your mind that you are better than him.  

Also, just to give you a head start, I have uploaded Luke’s Midwest picks for you.

Hurry up.  The first games start Thursday!

Danielle & I have been married close to 8 years.  We have 4 kids.
We both absolutely love our lives together and could not imagine any better way of living.

Danielle & I have been married close to 8 years.
We have 4 kids.  It has been the hardest 8 years of our lives and never dreamed marriage could be this hard.

It may seem like those statements cannot co-exist, but the reality is that a good healthy marriage can and should be both of those statements from time to time.  Marriage is a process of unpacking and discovering the person you married.  The person you are currently dating is not who you will end up living with.  Little by little they will show you their true self and you will eventually realize you are living with a complete stranger who looks like the person you dated.  (I know I was on my best behavior as I “tricked” Danielle into marrying me.)

The thing that many people do not realize is that to have a healthy marriage you MUST change who you are, you  MUST change your behaviors and habits.  When you commit to live selflessly and give to one another it’s about a lot more than sharing a checkbook or mortgage.

You are committing to picking up the house when you would rather go out with your friends.

You are committing to staying up with a kid when you are tired.

You are committing to bringing in groceries when the game is on tv.

Marriage is a commitment that we commit to, but really don’t even know what we are committing to.  That’s why the preacher says through “good times & bad times.”  If he were to go into detail and describe every known marriage scenario to man, you would NEVER get a guy to stand up there and nod his head.  :)

OK, so you get it. But, why the buzz kill on this happy wedding photography blog.  :)  The reason is I want my couples to understand what they are getting into.  The BEST book Danielle & I read before we were married was a book called The Sacred Marriage.  It looks at marriage from the perspective of “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”

I cannot recommend this book enough.  You can get it at Amazon, Barns & Noble, your library.  You can even be lazy like me and get the audio book from iTunes. In fact, because we liked it so much, Danielle and I have both started re-reading this book recently.
Get it.
Read it.
Work really really really hard.
Live happily ever after.

Apparently the theme for the blog the last few weeks has been snow and Legos.

So, since I know all of you are so into my little family, and would much rather keep up with us rather then the Kardashians, I thought I’d fill you in on the last week or so of our lives.

Back when we had the great snow storm of 2010, I had my friend and excellent photographer Lane Davis shoot a few of us prancing around in the snow.  I love what he got.  Take a look.

Ladies & Gentlemen, give it up for the lovely Danielle!!!

Also, if you are interested in Missions, God, or photography, you’ll have to follow his new site.  He’s leaving for Africa, Asia, and 14 other countries and will be gone for 9 months documenting and photographing what God is doing in other parts of the world.  I can’t tell you how proud and honored I am to call him my friend and demand that you all follow his blog To Tell A Story.

In other news, yesterday was Jo’s 7th Birthday.  He wanted a Power Miners themed Lego party and here is what he got.

Cake.

Candles = Dynamite

Here is the toothless wonder himself.

One of the games we played was having the kids guess how many Legos were in the jar.

The first client who guesses the correct number in the comments gets a free 8×10 print.

We also had a random bag/build contest.

An impartial judge declared Jo’s contraption the winner.

How about Luke!  He built this bad boy on his own.  Not bad for a 2 year old right?

I’m also shooting Eli’s 1 year old photos today.  If you beg and plead, I might blog those soon. :)

Well day 2 of the blizzard of 2010 was an even bigger hit at my house. I woke up at 5:00 AM and went and bought some boots & snow gloves for the kids. All they had in stock were 3 large purple ones so that’s what we ended up with. :) Here are a few shots from our crazy fun day.

Homemade sled.

Poor Luke.  Basically every article of clothing we put on him was too big.

Say hello to me and my smoking hot wife.

Everyone is snuggled up in front of the TV now.

This morning I went to iTunes and downloaded 8 new TV shows with the word “snow” in the title and we are vegging out.

Saturday I’m heading to the NBA All Star Game in Dallas and then I’ll get back to wedding stuff come Monday.  I Promise.